Archeological Survey Report. Ixxxi 
never have passed through Rudrapur, as it would have entailed the 
passage of the Rapéi in addition to that of the Ghdgra river. Ihave 
had some experience in the laying out of roads, and I feel quite 
satisfied that the old high road must have crossed the Ghagra some- 
where below its junction with the Rapti. According to the people, 
the old passage of the Ghagra was at MJazli, 4 miles to the south of 
Kahaon, and 3 miles to the north of Bhagalpur. From Kasia to this 
ghat on the Ghagra the road would have passed through the ancient 
town of Khukhundo and the large villages of Kahaon and Bhdgal- 
pur. Of these three, Khukhundo corresponds best with the descrip- 
tion of a large town, and as it is 27 miles from Kasia by the present 
straight road, it must have been about 30 miles by the winding native 
tracks. I believe, therefore, that it is the large town described by 
Hwen Thsang in which a rich Brahman had spent his wealth in 
the magnificent decoration of a Buddhist monastery. Khukhundo 
is not now a place of any note amongst the Brahmans, but it is visited 
by Agarwal Srawaks from Gorakhpur and Patna, who have built a 
small Jain temple amongst the ruins. By them its proper name is 
said to be Kishkindapura, so called from Kishkinda, » mountain in 
the south of India, famous in the history of Rama. Khukhundo 
must therefore have been a Brahmanical town. 
192. The remains at Khukhundo consist of a few large tanks and 
a number of low mounds covered with broken brick and thick jungle. 
The ruins which lie scattered about over the plain and amongst the 
fields to the south of Khukhundo cover nearly one square mile of 
ground. All the larger mounds are square in form, and are beyond 
all doubt the ruins of temples. There are a few low oblong heaps 
which may possibly be the ruins of long ranges of inferior buildings, 
but I think it more probable that they are only the collections of 
brick from the fields. very large mound has at least one fine lofty 
tree growing on its summit, and to the destructive power of the roots 
of these trees I would attribute the overthrow of the Khukhundo 
temples. I verified this opinion in one instance, that of mound K, 
by an excavation which showed the floor of a temple completely 
broken up by the wide spreading roots of a fine tamarind tree. 
Another notable instance is that of a temple at Kahaon, which was 
standing at the time of Buchanan’s visit, but which is now only a 
M 
